2024 Container Garden Recap

2024 was our worst year ever by total yield or by EarthBox by quite a bit. This year we grew four boxes of tomatoes (8 plants), one box of cucumbers (4 plants), one split box of zucchini and tomatillos (one of each), and one box of basil (4 plants).

Typically we get around 20 pounds per tomato plant — around 40 pounds per EarthBox. Not this year:

One box (four plants) Cucumbers: 27.9 pounds. Not a terrible year for cucumbers. They maintained good shape and taste deep into the harvest season.

One box (two plants) Black Krim Tomatoes: 14.6 pounds

One box (two plants) Oregon Spring Tomatoes: 12.6 pounds

Two boxes (four plants) Roma Tomatoes: 22.2 pounds

1/2 box (1 plant) Zucchini: 6.7 pounds

1/2 box (1 plant) Tomatillo: 3.3 pounds

87.3 pounds total.

We also grew one box of basil, and as usual the box produced way more than we could consume. At the end of every season it gets distributed around the neighborhood before the cold damages it too much.

We’re in the Seattle area. Almost everyone I talked to said they were having a bad year for tomatoes, so I don’t think it was just us. We did have one Roma die outright, which is the first tomato plant we’ve had die in over ten years of gardening. On average the yield this year was about 1/3rd of what we’ve seen historically.

The other “problem” was that we bought the last zucchini plant labeled as Tromboncino from the nursery. It turned out it was a “regular” zucchini plant, so it flopped all over the Tomatillo, rather than vining and staying out of the way like it was supposed to. There were no winners in that competition for space and light.

The flip side is 80 pounds of produce is a lot of stuff. We processed the tomatoes into sauce and froze dinner-sized portions. Both the downstairs chest freezer and the upstairs freezer are packed solid with vegetables.

Going forward, it may be we need to cycle out potting soil and replace it with fresh. It may also be that 2024 is closer to the new normal as the large trees around our lot continue to encroach on good sun for the garden.

I think overall it was a combination of relative lack of attention, bad weather, and bad luck (mislabeled pant and the dead tomato plant).

We’ll try again next year.

The Reduced Footprint 2024 Container Garden

In a typical year we have twelve active EarthBoxes. The yield is usually around 250 pounds of produce. We have plenty of frozen vegetables in the freezer, so this year we have seven boxes:

The picture is facing east — the sun is just clearing the house and striking the cages and the tops of the tomato plants.

Front row (L-R): box of two Romas, box of two Romas, box of two Oregon Spring. There’s going to be one more box to the right containing basil — I didn’t like what I saw when I went shopping for basil this morning.

2nd row (L-R): Box of Black Krim tomatoes. Under the right-hand trellis are Marketmore cucumbers.

Back left: A box with one tomatillo (Verde) and one zucchini. We purchased the zucchini as a Tromboncino (we got the last one!) but it now has all the appearances of a “regular” zucchini plant.

North of Seattle it’s been very mild bordering on “too cold for basil”. Hopefully over the next few weeks we see some real growth.

Container Garden Update — August 2, 2023. The Zucchini

Here in the Seattle area It’s been a dry summer and it’s also been relatively mild. The garden is doing fine, maybe developing a little more slowly than usual. We’ve harvested around 15 pounds of cucumbers, some early Oregon Spring tomatoes, Fortex (haricot vert / pole) beans, basil, and a few Tromboncino zucchini, including this one:

For reference, the table is 36″ in diameter. The fruit is 33″ long and weighs 4.3 pounds. I’m pretty sure this is a record for us. It may be that if left on the vine it would have gotten even larger, but it also might have started the transition to “yellow winter” squash, and that’s not what we had in mind.

I wasn’t able to get a photogenic picture of it on the vine. The next picture shows what that looks like. (2014 photograph):

We like to grow the Tromboncino variety for a few reasons: We like the firm texture of the flesh. The seeds are all in the ball at the end, the rest of the zucchini is totally usable. The plants themselves are relatively mildew resistant, and because they can be trellised they work well with the fact that we’re gardening on a concrete patio.

Another picture of the “new” zucchini for fun, this time posing on a 4′ long table with the kitchen appliances and a vase full of tarragon:

The next post will have pictures things besides Tromboncino. By mid-August The Ripening should be in full swing.

Container Garden Update — July 2, 2023

It’s been a very mild summer. When I compare notes with people it feels like our garden is behind most everyone. The flip side to that is it’s the start of July and the lettuces and cool season herbs are still doing well.

A picture with a different angle, from the deck:

An overview from the front:

Something happened to the asparagus between last year and this year. About a third of the crowns either died off or (optimistically but unlikely) refused to come up. I don’t have an explanation for it — I’ve been adding compost every year and I didn’t do anything differently that I can think of. I may leave it alone next year and see what happens.

Instead of sad asparagus, here’s the first cucumber. Or the second, I didn’t see the one hiding on the right when I took the picture:

Romaine lettuce – “Slow Bolt Mix” from Territorial seed. I had the date that I seeded these written on a white board. The white board has since been erased by someone being helpful. I think it’s been 3-4 weeks? Bird netting to keep the squirrels from digging:

The basil. We originally started with one EarthBox and the basil did so well that it turned into this garden post many years later:

The Fortex beans:

The Tromboncino zucchini. We’ve harvested two decent-sized specimens so far. Pollinating the flowers with a toothbrush may be helping:

The indeterminant tomatoes (Black Krim and others) and the determinates to the left (Oregon Spring and Roma):

A closeup of the Oregon Spring tomatoes, which are always the earliest and most prolific. There are more than a few hiding:

The Carmen peppers:

Looking ahead – hopefully the weather does historically normal July / August things around here and the garden picks up. The trees around the property have grown to the point that we’re never going to see the harvests that when we first started gardening, but we should still be able to freeze plenty of veg to carry us through the winter months.

Container Garden Update — June 4, 2023

A few pictures of the garden in early June. North of Seattle that means that we’re still a month or more away from the first real harvests.

The first picture is an overview from the “front” , facing east.

Front Left – tomatoes (indeterminates are on the north/left, determinates in the front).

Front Right – Carmen peppers.

Back Left – Fortex beans and Tromboncino zuchinni.

Back Center – basil (hiding) and cucumber trellis.

Facing north:

Close-up of the Tromboncino zucchini. The Fortex beans are in the background:

The Marketmore cucumbers:

The Joi Choi. Planted on April 6, the bigger plants are ready to harvest. The tulle over the wire hoops seems to have kept the bugs out this time:

The frilly cilantro and dill that was planted on March 20. They’re sitting in a place where they get morning sun, then dappled sun after that. I think they’re going to bolt within the next two weeks regardless of care:

One nice thing about planting in pots is that they can be moved around depending upon the season and the demands of what’s been planted. The next picture has young leaf lettuce that is covered by bird netting. We have lots of squirrels and they’ll destroy any seedlings that aren’t protected from digging:

I’m still getting the hang of succession planting. I think I’m always waiting too long between plantings, and I try to start outdoors when it’s still cold and the cold nearly stops any growth or germination. This year I tried planting lettuce outside in early March and the it didn’t germinate at all, though that could have been because the seeds were a few years old. I think that I may need to start in February/March indoors, then move that group out into the cold frame in a “warm” spot, then continue with a new group every two weeks through April.

It sounds good in theory anyway.

Container Garden Update August 28, 2022

In the Seattle area, mid-to-late August is when the garden starts to ripen in earnest. It’s also when the plants are starting to show that they’re thinking about being “done”.

A sort of close up overview picture:

The front right is Carmen Peppers and King Of North Peppers. The Carmen’s are having a much more productive year. A Carmen close up:

Normally we lose a few to earwigs, but that doesn’t seem to be the case this year. I’ve only counted one lost to the bugs.

Pictured next is the more energetic of the two Roma Tomato boxes. This box got the sunnier location and it shows:

That’s two plants in one box. They’re leaning over to the left and invading the space of the Oregon Springs. The nice thing is that the Oregon Springs are a very early harvest so we should be able to pull those plants out in 2-3 weeks from now.

I think the Tomatillo and Tromboncino “sharing a trellis” is working out pretty well. The center of the space is dominated by the Tomatillos. We need to harvest a big batch of them within the next few days.

The Tromboncino are growing up the sides and along the top. They’re having a better year this year than they have in the last few. We got a 32″ fruit about a week ago. Today we harvested this:

Tromboncino have all of their seeds in the bulb at the end of the fruit. The flesh firmer than a regular zucchini. Their leaves are less susceptible to mold, which helps in our climate. They work especially well for us because we’re gardening on a concrete patio and the vining aspect of the variety keeps the fruit off of the hot summer cement.

Finally, the Rattlesnake Beans:

We’ll let these dry and use them like Pinto Beans. I like growing beans – we plant 20-40 seeds in a box and make sure they get water and that’s about it. It’s basically “free” food.

The cucumbers are also having a better year than in the last couple of years. After the early cool weather it’s turned into a fairly warm summer, but we haven’t had wildfire smoke sucking up the UV.

So that’s good on a few levels.